A Friend in Need - Expanded Version
by Nell McKeon
Summary: Post Amnesty - Written for the challenge prompt- Tempted. This is an expanded version of the original story. Will Heyes and Curry help out an acquaintance they're not even sure they want to call a friend?


_I have written several small stories as responses to challenge prompts over the years with my story "Terms" as the unifying back story. They take place over the expanse of Heyes and Curry's lifetime. This is the first story, chronologically, in the "Terms" universe, which is set shortly after "Terms" ends. You don't need to have read the backstory but it does help to understand some minor motivating factors._

 **A Friend in Need**

Denver was cold for this time of year and for a man out of a job, it felt even colder. The dark-haired man pulled his charcoal gray suit jacket closed and gave a little shiver. He stood on the corner of a well-traveled street of fairly new brick buildings in the business district of the city, thinking. His dark eyes, that were set too close together, flicked a glance down the side street then along the main avenue. No one he knew was in sight. He advanced a few steps down the boardwalk, hesitated, then retreated to his original position on the corner, indecision flittered across his snake-like face.

The man sighed, and came to terms with his reluctant decision; the best prospects for a warm, welcoming, and well-fed future lay half-way down the boardwalk. He straightened his tie, polished the toe of his left boot on the back on his right pant leg and reset his hat on his head. Straightening up, the gentleman, in the citified clothes and the double black gun belt, started once more down the boardwalk. With each click of his boot heels on the boards he felt his humiliation increase. He maintained his resolve until he reached the storefront before his destination. The man stopped and slouched in the empty recessed doorway.

He peered out and to his right then quickly drew back. A couple of deep breaths and his bravado returned. Besides, what choice did he really have? A small smile twitched his lips and the thin mustache turned upwards when he thought, as the man inside his destination would say – a man's gotta eat. The citified gentleman strode out of the neighboring doorway and advanced to the next business. He read the big gold lettering across the large front window and mouthed the words to himself, "The Heyes and Curry Agency, Investigations and Security, Best in the West." He peered between the letters to try to see if anyone was inside even though the sign on the door indicated the business was open. With his better than average vision, he was able to make out a dark blond man standing along the side of the office, towards the back of the room. His right hand reached out and grasped the brass door handle.

Kid Curry was silently cursing paperwork. He fought the urge to shoot the file cabinets or kick the piles of green and blue file folders stacked around his feet. He reminded himself that he was the one who insisted they didn't need a secretary. If Heyes had had his way, a pretty and efficient young lady would be sitting at a reception desk in their waiting area. Instead, Kid played part-time secretary and pretended, at least when Heyes was around, that he was happy to file, to run errands to the bank and the post office, and to bang on the new-fangled typewriter to transcribe Heyes' indecipherable handwriting and his own scrawl into neat legible documents, creating more pieces of paper to be filed. It was getting to the point when he might have to capitulate, admit that Heyes was correct and eat crow.

Curry bent and picked up a stack of green folders as he started to sing the alphabet song, "A, B, C, D, E, F, G…"

A bell jingled as the main office door opened. Kid dropped the folders on top of the files in the open cabinet drawer. He turned and strode out of the large main office into the small but comfortable waiting area.

"Harry? Harry Briscoe? It's good to see you, Harry. We don't usually see you in the middle of the day and definitely not in the office. What if someone from the B. D. I. spotted you walking in?" Kid greeted his old friend with a big smile.

"Hiya, Heyes," Harry returned the greeting.

"It's Curry."

"I know, just checking," Harry said with a genuine smile as he stuck out his right hand to shake hands with the ex-outlaw-turned-detective.

"Come on in and tell me what I can do for you," Kid directed as he ushered the Bannerman man into the inner office.

"Where's Heyes?" Harry inquired, looking around.

"Heyes went out to Silverton to meet with some mine owners regarding their payroll security requirements. Right now, he's probably being wined and dined before the conveniently scheduled poker game." Kid flopped into his desk chair and indicated that Harry should take a seat.

"He left you here, by yourself?" Harry looked at Heyes' neat desk with minimal clutter. He looked at the chair next to Kid that had papers falling onto it from a large messy pile of documents perched on the edge of Kid's desk. He chose to sit across from Curry and pulled out Heyes' comfortable wood and leather chair. He settled himself and tried to appear as professional as he could.

"I'm a big boy. I can stay all by myself now. Why?" Kid narrowed his eyes across the desks at Harry.

"Don't mean nothin' by it, Kid. Just wanted to talk to the both of you. That's all," Harry tried to not to rile Curry's temper.

Kid grinned back at Harry, "No offense taken. I know you didn't mean anything by it but if you want both of us, you'll have to wait to the end of next week. I'm cleanin' up some office work." Curry's eyes swiftly swept around, touching on the piles still on the floor, the piles in the open file drawer and the piles sitting on his desk and he shuddered slightly. "Then I'm taking the morning train tomorrow to meet Heyes in order to scout out the mine location, the routes taken and the surrounding area. We won't be back until probably Thursday."

Kid could see the disappointment in Harry's eyes, although, his facial expression remained neutral. "Is there something I can do for you?"

Harry cleared his throat, this was harder than he thought. He remembered that he called Kid Curry a friend, at least in private, where no one from the B. D. I. might hear. In a rush of bitterness, he was reminded it no longer mattered what the B. D.I. thought. He no longer was a Bannerman man.

"Well, yes…I mean I was thinkin'…maybe you could…you see I was…" Harry studied the top of the desk and coughed.

"Come on Harry, out with it" Kid leaned over the desk and offered a full cup of luke-warm coffee that he hadn't touched yet.

Harry shook his head but smiled at the offer. He looked up a saw an open friendly face. The blue eyes held genuine interest. Harry told himself that Kid Curry, when he wasn't being the Fastest Gun in the West, and if you were on his good side, was an amiable fella. He knew that to be true and with sudden insight realized things might actually being going his way. Kid was by no means a pushover but he was more readily empathetic. Heyes was much more suspicious. Heyes was much less likely to rush to help; he wanted to study all the angles and wanted to know what was in it for him. Now might be the best time to ask.

"Well, you see, Mr. Bannerman and I didn't see eye to eye on a few things and I… I no longer work for the B. D. I. I was wondering if you and Heyes needed any help. The word is your agency is making inroads in the business. You and Heyes are getting quite a good reputation. You got the B. D. I. watchin', waitin' for you to make a mistake or use the agency as a cover for your old ways. I told them that you won't, that they should just get used to you as the competition and… well, they didn't like that." Harry took off his hat and laid it on Heyes' desk. He rubbed his jaw and waited to Curry's reaction.

Kid raised a sandy eyebrow, "They fired you again, huh?"

Briscoe nodded.

"What's the real reason Harry? Incompetence?" Kid asked compassionately.

"I swear, Kid, not this time. I really did say that you fellas and your agency were here to stay. They wanted me to do some business sabotage or set you and Heyes up to be implicated in a crime and I refused. They fired me and that's the God's honest truth." Harry sat up straight, stuck his chin out defiantly and looked Curry straight in the face.

Kid believed him; Briscoe was an awful liar. "So, you would like to work for us now, is that what you're asking?"

Harry nodded affirmatively.

"Just checking, but do you think you can take orders from us? Do things our way?" Kid asked somewhat incredulously.

"Your way is my way. If you give me a job, I'll do things any way you like, as long as it is legal. I've reformed, you'll remember." Harry answered sincerely.

Curry leaned back in his chair and studied the man sitting in his partner's spot. Harry wasn't totally incompetent. He did help with the Tapscott and Hadleyburg affair. He, also, much to Kid's chagrin, kept out of jail and wound up sitting in a nice train car while they were stuck in the desert. And Briscoe did make good on his promise to send horses, food and water.

Harry Briscoe sat quietly in Hannibal Heyes' chair and waited patiently for Kid Curry to make a decision. He tried to read the answer in Kid's face to no avail. Curry was using his poker face of non-expression.

Kid Curry remembered that he personally owed a large measure of gratitude to Harry Briscoe. Nickersen had shown him the affidavit of character, which Briscoe wrote, that was submitted as part of his pardon application. He shared Heyes' and Nickersen's opinion that next to Lom Tevor's affidavit of character, Briscoe's was the best written and very persuasive. Curry let a hint of a smile escape as he thought in spite of everything, and all the reasons why he shouldn't, that nonetheless, he really did like Harry Briscoe. He was tempted, very tempted to hire Harry, if for no other reason than to see Heyes' face when he told him. There was something to be said for the amusement factor, as well, of being Briscoe's boss.

Harry noted the ghost of a smile and tried to control the hope that grew in his chest. He liked Heyes and Curry and they were his only true friends; he was surprised to find that he was no longer ashamed to admit that fact.

The pile of documents that had sat precariously on Kid's desk fluttered to the floor and spilled onto the chair when Curry's chair knocked into the desk as he stood up. An idea formed in Kid's mind. Harry excelled at paperwork. Kid hated paper work. They needed someone to help with the office duties, freeing them for the "real" work. And Harry could be trusted to competently perform mundane investigative duties.

"Harry, how would you like to be office manager of "The Heyes and Curry Agency"? Can you type? Can you start now?"

 **One Day Later, Silverton, CO**

The Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad wound its way through narrow valleys, over deep gorges and around steep mountainsides at a slow but steady speed to serve the mining towns of San Juan County, Colorado. Silverton, at 9,300 feet, was the end of line and Kid Curry felt ambivalent about exiting his third and last train on his trip from Denver as he gathered his saddle bags and rifle.

On one hand, he would feel more like himself traveling around in the crisp mountain air on his hired horse, for which his efficient partner undoubtedly had arranged. He still became uncomfortable, restless and anxious when restricted to small spaces for any length of time. He found napping, his previous method of enduring long, boring train trips, was impossible. He had to periodically, at regular intervals, walk the length of the train and spend a considerable amount of time on the outside platforms watching the landscape pass by in order to reign in his mounting anxiety and maintain his equilibrium. It would also be good to actively engage in his new line of work with his partner instead of spending time doing tedious office chores alone. A small smile twitched at his lips when he realized his new hire was already hard at work doing all the tedious stuff instead of him. Kid walked to the end of the car and stood impatiently waiting for the train to pull into the station. He stooped and peered through the windows, hoping to catch a glimpse of Heyes.

On the other hand, Curry was somewhat relieved when there was no sign of a tall, lean, dark-haired man standing on the station platform. He and Heyes had a long-standing practice of talking through major decisions together in order to arrive at a course of action that they both could live with. Naturally, there had been exceptions to the rule, none of which Kid could remember turning out especially well. The last incident when Kid made a major life decision without talking to Heyes still provoked such strong contentions between them that the partners only agreed to disagree. However, he just had a gut feeling that hiring Harry Briscoe, despite all rationale arguments that Heyes would have to the contrary, would work out. And Kid Curry learned long ago that Heyes might be the thinker in their partnership, but his gut intuition was just as vital to their success. He would tell Heyes, of course, the trick was in picking the right moment. The trouble was Kid's tongue wasn't silver and he didn't think being in Silverton would help make it so.

The train stopped, belched steam and Kid hopped off. He threaded his way through the small crowd near the station house, glancing around for Heyes.

"Kid! Glad to see you made it."

Curry abruptly turned to his left and came face to face with his relieved-looking partner. "Yep, here all safe and sound, ready to go, Best in the West security expert reporting for work." Kid gave a pat on the back to his partner, started to walk towards the street, and continued with his bonhomie patter, "I'm looking forward to getting started bright and early tomorrow, a nice Monday morning, riding the routes – by the way, did you hire me a good horse, where is it? – looking over the area carefully, you and me figuring out the best way to get the job done…" Curry's voice trailed off as he realized Heyes had stopped and was staring at him suspiciously. "What?"

"What? You're looking forward to a bright and early start?"

"Well, okay not that early, but still early, that is after an even earlier breakfast. Nothing like not wasting daylight. Did you scout out the likely possibilities since you've been here? Knowing you, I'm sure you got some good ideas already. Those our horses over there?"

A dark head shook a negative response as he continued to study his abnormally loquacious partner. A navy blue clad arm pointed down the street towards the right as he started to walk in that direction. Heyes replied, "We can walk to the hotel. It's not far down that way. Our horses are still at the livery. I've hired you one those big black geldings you seem to favor. The livery owner gave me a good rate, said that the horse was a handful, said that the horse thought he was still a stallion but I assured him you could handle any animal that you managed to mount."

"That's nice, thanks. Oh, how was the poker game? Do we still have the job? You didn't annoy them too bad, didya?"

Heyes chuckled. "We still have the job. They might have been mine owners but they played as if they was still miners. Even you, Kid, would have had a hefty stack of chips in front of you by the night's end."

"Hey, what do you mean even me. I'll have you know, Heyes, you ain't the only one who can play poker well. I'm a pretty good player myself. It's only compared to you that I fall short, and even then, who was it that won all our gold dust back in a card game?" Curry protested.

"Montana red dog isn't exactly poker. But before you get all annoyed, I'll concede that you're a darn fine poker player, even if you don't always play by the odds. Naturally you are, a great poker-player, me, taught you everything you know about the game."

"Gee, you don't let any false modesty get in your way of the truth, huh."

The partners meandered leisurely towards the hotel as the master poker player regaled his friend with a hand by hand replay of the poker game. The suspicion that Curry was hiding something, or distracting him from noticing something or just something wasn't right was still at the forefront of Heyes' mind but he decided to play along for a while. He'd get whatever it was out of Kid sooner rather than later and then they would deal with it.

Back in the hotel room, after a big steak dinner, complete with pie for dessert and a quick relaxing nightcap among the relatively quiet Sunday night saloon patrons the two "Best in the West" detectives and security experts were settling down for the night in preparation for a bright and early start in coming morning. The older man, propped up on pillows, stretched out underneath the covers and eyed the back of the younger man as Kid finished putting his gun cleaning supplies away. He judged sooner had come. Curry obviously wasn't going to come clean on his own, he'd been actively steering the conversation away from his doings of the past few days and was more than willing to talk about everything else, which piqued Heyes' interest even more and heightened his suspicions that Curry was avoiding something that he should know about.

"So, Kid, you've been in much better mood than I expected, what with you being stuck in the office filing, typing, and organizing for the last several days. You haven't even complained once all evening, only a little crabbin' about the train ride. Why is that? I know you haven't taken a sudden liking to paper work."

Curry momentarily froze as he was turning back the covers to his bed and his shoulders stiffened almost imperceptibly. He composed his features into a neutral pleasant expression and turned to face the dark-haired, annoyingly perceptive man. "Would you believe that I'm just happy about a job well done no matter what the job was?"

"Nope, try again."

Blue eyes dropped to the floor as Kid's mind raced to come up with an explanation that would satisfy his persistent partner. After a moment of futile wishing to prolong the inevitable revelation of his rash decision on a new hire, one he still believed would work out to everyone's benefit, he gave up, time to bite the bullet. Raising his eyes to meet the inquiring brown ones watching him, Kid summoned his best blue-eyed earnest, calm trust me look. He kicked his boots that he had dropped at the side of the bed into the corner of the room and sat down.

"Well it's like this. You know how you've been pestering me about hiring some help with the office work."

"Yeah, and you've been fighting me every time I suggest it. You'd rather ignore the need and try to do it all yourself, and badly at that."

"Now, that's not entirely fair. I've learned to type, and my filing system is better than yours."

"Oh alright, not all badly. Are you telling me you placed my advertisement for an office manager in the paper?" Heyes let a little of self-righteousness and I told-you-so tones leak into his voice, but he didn't want to rub Curry's nose too much into the fact that the Kid finally had to capitulate to reason.

"I managed to do better than that. I hired someone. Someone with plenty of experience with paperwork and who knows the detective business. Someone who might be handy to have around to help in other ways. Who assured me that they would be able to do things our way." Kid was proud that he managed to get the words out with a straight face.

One of Heyes' brows shot up in surprise, that was not expected at all. "What did you spend time with some needy, pretty gal who once knew a Bannerman man on Saturday night, who also knows how to calculate a bill for services, and hired her before you left Sunday morning?" Heyes expression immediately turned from teasing to contrite as he wanted to take back his ill thought out words. He absolutely knew that was not the case with Kid Curry as he now existed, although a part of Heyes wished it were so.

The blond hid his hurt and calmly explained "No, Heyes, I didn't hire a saloon girl. I…"

"Sorry Kid, I know you didn't," Heyes interjected. "I'm sure you held interviews, asked for references, and picked the best candidate. I'm just surprised you wanted to do it on your own, that's all. But I guess after all the years we talked about letting potential gang members in or not, you know how I think. I trust you. So, tell me about the new office manager?" The former leader of the Devil's Hole Gang and the current senior partner of the Heyes and Curry Agency - Investigations and Security, sat forward in bed, prepared to listen.

Curry knew he was avoiding this subject all night for a reason and now he felt even more concerned how Heyes was going to take the news. He stuttered, "Ha…Harry Briscoe."

"Harry Briscoe what? You hired someone Harry recommended?"

"No, I hired Harry Briscoe."

"Harry Briscoe, our Harry Briscoe? Harry Briscoe of the B.D.I.? As what?"

"Yeah that Harry Briscoe. I hired him as our office manager and sort of an associate detective."

"YOU WHAT!" Heyes threw back the covers, jumped out of bed and took two agitated steps to stand directly in front of his partner.

Kid leaned back across the bed on one elbow, sighed, and threaded a hand through his curls. "You obviously heard me right, judging by your reaction. Calm down Heyes, and let me explain."

"Oh, you have an explanation? You actually have a justification for craziness. This ought to be a doozy, I can't wait to hear it." The sarcastic one replied as he started to pace the hotel bedroom clad only his long johns; even so he managed to project a certain degree of menace combined with disbelief.

"See it's like this. Harry came to visit us, he was fired by the B.D.I. for…"

"Incompetence. What a surprise."

"You want to hear this or not. Don't keep interruptin'. And no, it wasn't incompetence, not this time. He refused to set us up to damage any good reputation we've been building and possibly being accused of a crime. B.D.I. wanted to tarnish us and get rid of us as new, real competition. Anyway, he came and wanted to talk to us both but only I was around as you was here. I was sitting there surrounded by paperwork and remembered the well written affidavit he wrote about me for the pardon. He knows about office procedures, paperwork, and typewriting…"

"Bully for him that he knows about some stuff, and I'm sorry he was fired for sticking up for us, if you can believe his story. Kid, he's still incompetent. You hired him. You can fire him."

"No, Heyes! I believe him. Harry's a terrible liar and he was really sincere. We had a good talk. And you know, he's not totally incompetent. The Brimstone train idea was a good idea that might have worked if we'd still been with the gang, in fact Wheat and the boys did go after the gold. So, the idea was good even if it didn't work out as he planned."

"Hah! We saved his career for him by identifying Daly and Blaine and finding out what they were up to. It's not enough to just have a good idea."

Curry took a deep breath, kept his cool and continued, "Well you ought to know, oh wait, I thought if the idea was good the job wasn't all bad. Isn't that what you tell me about the Hanford job, you know, the one where I got shot in the leg and we got less $78 dollars."

Heyes stopped pacing and glared at the unrepentant one. "THAT was a good idea. What about Charlie's gold fiasco?"

"Well, Briscoe's idea wasn't all bad then either, and he did more than we ever did and tried to learn Spanish. If we hadn't come across Kurt in the desert, his idea would've worked, too. Sometimes things happen that all the careful plannin' just misses, like the Columbine train job with the Brooker 202 and the wet dynamite."

Heyes eyes narrowed even further, his brow furrowed and his glare become more intense.

"Leaving us out by the rocks in the Utah desert by Little Grande when he was riding by in comfort on a train."

"You agreed with him to jump and he did come through with horses, water, and food. Plus, he caught himself two other outlaws, kept out of jail, and got rehired at the B.D.I."

"Escaping with Molly's $30,000 and getting tied up and having the loot stolen by that half-wit stooge he found."

Curry now got up as well and stood firmly in Heyes' path, looked him straight in the eyes before moving to glance out the window and then retreated back to his bed. He reigned in the challenging attitude and adopted a conciliatory approach, using reason. "Yeah, but it was his idea on how to do the job in the first place. A good enough idea that Molly Cusack was able to pull the job off, using his ideas. He did manage to track her and he got the drop on us. Maybe Harry isn't the genius you are, but he does have some ability to think. He knows when he's in over his head and needs help like with the Colorado Springs gambling scam, which also brings up the fact that he helped with the Tapscotts in Hadleyburg. Maybe he needs a genius, to help with the thorough plannin' and a practical colleague to properly execute the plan. Maybe he needs people he can trust to talk things over with him without always worryin' about getting fired. Perhaps if he had that he might become more capable. Think of Kyle and the rest of the gang, it took the right kind of leader to bring out the best in each man. You're that kind of leader, and can be that kind of boss. Besides, I like the man. I don't know why but I do. There, it's out. Anyway, I hired him and he's started work organizin' already since he had nothin' better to do. I told him we would finalize the employment arrangements when we got back when we could all sit down together and discuss matters."

Heyes had come to a stop and was standing at the side of his bed, maintaining his height advantage over Curry who was sitting three feet across from him. The anger drained away, his stiffness relaxed, and his face softened as he looked down in exasperated fondness. "That's you, always having a soft spot for the underdog. But Kid, sometimes the underdog is just a dog with fleas."

Kid smiled as he looked up and turned on the big baby blue eyes, pleading in his best Kyle imitation, "But I like dogs, and fleas can be gotten rid of. Please, can we keep him?"

The older partner dropped down on the bed and tried without success to hide a small indulgent smile.

"Besides Heyes, you're real fond of dogs, too. "

"Let me think, I'll tell you in the morning. Speaking of morning we better hit the sack since bright is coming pretty early if you want breakfast first."

The lamp was extinguished as the two rising successful detectives and security experts turned in. Curry was dropping off when a raspy baritone drifted out into the dark.

"You really think Harry's got potential?"

"I do. But it's going to take a genius to pull it out of him."

"Hmmm, maybe."

Kid Curry rolled over with a smug smile and promptly fell asleep, leaving the genius to contemplate his new challenge.

 _For no other reason than I have a fondness for the character of Harry Briscoe and the way J. D. Cannon played him_.


End file.
